So the question is, could Labour actually oppose quitting the EU when the time comes? And if so, could this mean Brexit doesn’t happen or, at least, is delayed?

We know that Brexit is due to take place in March 2019.

That’s because the UK officially announced our intention to leave, by triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, in March 2017. And under the terms of the Treaty, we’re supposed to go within two years.

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But this is wishful thinking. UK-based manufacturers compete successfully with rivals across the world and account for 45% of UK exports, but they do so because they have developed cost-efficient ways of working.

Many large manufacturers have complex supply chains. They require specialist items which a limited number of firms - sometimes small engineering businesses - are able to make. Finding these businesses and building relationships with them is a major achievement, and not something that can be replicated easily.

So can we really leave the EU without a deal? Can we instruct firms like Nissan in the North East, Jaguar Land Rover in the West Midlands, Toyota in Derbyshire or Mini in Oxfordshire to transform the way they operate?

Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, told a Commons inquiry this week that it was “unthinkable” there would be no deal.

But some MPs are thinking about it.

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Labour says it backs Brexit - but also that it won’t support leaving the EU without a deal. This is intended as a criticism of Theresa May’s position, but it also raises a difficult question for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn which he may eventually have to face.

It may become clear well before March 2019 that a no-deal Brexit is the only one on offer. In that case, what will Labour do?

A complicating factor is that it’s not clear whether Parliament will actually get a vote on leaving the EU without a deal.

But Labour wants to change that, by amending the European Union (Withdrawal Bill), currently making its way through the Commons, to ensure a vote takes place.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told the BBC’s Marr Show on Sunday that Labour was in talks with Conservative MPs about changing the legislation.

He said: “When we amend the legislation, which I think we will, I think there’s a majority to do that, to have a meaningful vote is what we’ve said all the way along, we’ll be able to say to government whatever you’re negotiating it will not be on the basis of no deal because the damage to this economy will be so great.”

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If Labour does succeed in changing the legislation - which would require a few Tory rebels to join the opposition parties in backing the change - then Parliament will have the option of rejecting a “no-deal” Brexit.

Theoretically, this could mean Ministers were instructed to go back to the EU and try a bit harder to negotiate an agreement.

But that’s easier said than done. After all, they do want a deal now. They’re just finding it hard to get one.

The logic of Labour’s position is that it could end up blocking Brexit, or at least ensuring the UK misses the March 2019 deadline.